However, as I indicated earlier, I strongly suspect fundamentalists would be perfectly happy to trump atheism up as a "threat" so they could railroad everyone else through fear to enact policies they wanted. You know, like a certain other fundamentalist Christian did to a particular group about 70-80 years back.

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Nullus In Verba, aka "Take nobody's word for it!" If you can't show it, then you don't know it.

In these comments of yours, you say that God gives you inspiration and that you FEEL him.How does god feel? Can you give us a actual example where you felt god? What was happening?

Can you give us an actual example where god really responded to you because you had faith in him? Or are these just fluffy words?

Hey Brakeman.

My relationship with GOD is special to me. And often when I tell of certain experiences, people don't understand and what I hold near and dear to my heart, gets trampled on. I do not mean any disrespect but this something I do not wish to post at the moment. I hope you understand.

If u allow me to answerIf the question is "Have you ever been a Believer...?"Then my answer would be : Yes i did

If u asked me whether i ever felt God pressence back then.Then my answer would be : Yes i thought i did

The thing is, i realized thatI Only See What I Wanted To SeeHear only what i wanted to hear

It's not God i felt back then, it's all just inside my head.Filled with illusion i create myself, refuse everything. Afraid of dissapointment.

Free your mind.

Hey freakygin.

I don'tknow your personal experiences but maybe I have had similar. I don't know. It is hard to say. I am still a Believer. Same as when I first believed. Even more.

I would be interested in hearing your story if you are willing.

I do not belong to any denomination. I am a Christian but by faith I am choosing to believe what GOD says I am. To me, there are so many different sects or denominations. Which one is right...? To me there is only 1 Jesus though. And I trust in Him by faith. The faith that He taught others. From my faith, I believe Him to be true. And by faith, I trust in GOD.

Try either of these, they have been in existence a few millennia before JC. We have the concept of parallel universes, eternality of the soul and there is no sin on any species because someone ate a forbidden fruit.

And we have gender equality, there are goddesses. You should try it, maybe it is a better path than via JC.

Try either of these, they have been in existence a few millennia before JC. We have the concept of parallel universes, eternality of the soul and there is no sin on any species because someone ate a forbidden fruit.

And we have gender equality, there are goddesses. You should try it, maybe it is a better path than via JC.

Could you tell me where in Hinduism parallel universe is mentioned?

Could you tell me if there is gender equality in Hinduism, why so many women were burned of Sati?

Sati? Its greatly misunderstood in the rest of the world. In Hinduism it is a choice for the widow. As expected, religious fanatics misunderstood it as something to be enforced. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice) ).

And forgive me for being vague, I implied that there is gender equality among gods. Means male deities dont have monopoly.

My relationship with GOD is special to me. And often when I tell of certain experiences, people don't understand and what I hold near and dear to my heart, gets trampled on. I do not mean any disrespect but this something I do not wish to post at the moment. I hope you understand.

Have you ever been a Believer...?

ILY,

I'm sure you don't mean it that way, but you sound very selfish. If you have a true relationship with god and you aren't willing to help us understand what it is and how it really works thereby condemning us to hell, then you are quite the ass. Have you not heard of the "Great Commission?" Jesus himself commanded his followers to go to the four corners of the earth sharing their relationship with christ. Yet you refuse him? Geeze, at least I could face him honestly at death by saying "shit!, I would have followed you if your other followers had shown me the reality of their relationship."What will you say? "F*ck you jesus, I got mine!??"

We are unbelievers, NOT because we are rejecting him, but because we have been so confused by the poor information that other christians have given to us. If you have a real lifeline from jesus, then you should correct our misconceptions and bring us back to the flock. Since you can communicate to god through prayer, you should ask him any questions you can't answer directly and get the information afresh.

If u allow me to answerIf the question is "Have you ever been a Believer...?"Then my answer would be : Yes i did

If u asked me whether i ever felt God pressence back then.Then my answer would be : Yes i thought i did

The thing is, i realized thatI Only See What I Wanted To SeeHear only what i wanted to hear

It's not God i felt back then, it's all just inside my head.Filled with illusion i create myself, refuse everything. Afraid of dissapointment.

Free your mind.

Hey freakygin.

I don'tknow your personal experiences but maybe I have had similar. I don't know. It is hard to say. I am still a Believer. Same as when I first believed. Even more.

I would be interested in hearing your story if you are willing.

I do not belong to any denomination. I am a Christian but by faith I am choosing to believe what GOD says I am. To me, there are so many different sects or denominations. Which one is right...? To me there is only 1 Jesus though. And I trust in Him by faith. The faith that He taught others. From my faith, I believe Him to be true. And by faith, I trust in GOD.

I was a Christian once, and I know exactly what's involved. ILY, you have made up your own "sect". Each Christian decides what he wants Christianity to be and either finds an established sect that fits him or he declares that he is the True Christain and those others are wrong. You have decided that you know what your god "really" meant e.g. what you think this god says you are.

My guess is that you don't want to post these special experience you claim to have since they won't be anything different from any other theist's claims.

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"There is no use in arguing with a man who can multiply anything by the square root of minus 1" - Pirates of Venus, ERB

I really have no desire to argue with anyone. If your conclusion is that Jesus Christ is not real, then this is you personal decision. I, for one, do not agree.But it is not up to me to judge anyone in this particular matter. Also, I have condemned no one.

Only you know in your hearts whether what you say is true. And only you know what you have said and done. How you have lived your lives. How you have treated others. If your heart is in the right place.

How do I know if you really had any faith at all...? I don't. And I will not judge you like that. Only GOD can see those things and judge accordingly.

I am not saying that you may have not believed at one time or what your belief really consisted of. Maybe thinking if your faith was ever tested or not. I don't know.

Rest assured I do not want to argue with you over The Holy Bible nor about my faith in Jesus Christ.

There was a time when I went through a very trying time in my life. I had already burnt all my bridges. People were telling everything from, GOD will not help you, to.... GOD isn't real, to.... everything you can think of. My faith was seriously being attacked physically and spiritually. To the point I didn't know what to believe anymore. This coming from people whom I thought I could trust. Self proclaiming Christians, to family members and respected authorities in local health care.

My world just took an entire 180.........

I have said there have been times when I felt that may faith was all I really had. This was one of those times.

I have no idea if any of you can relate. But I refused to let go. No matter what. Now I know in my heart I didn't earn anything. Nor would I suggest that I did.

But everything that everyone told me. The Lord made a liar out of them. And I never had to say one thing to them. They just knew.

Even though I deserved far worse. GOD took pity on me. Had mercy on me, forgave me and restored me. Through all of this, I knew that He did it because He loves me.

So you feel that your prayers haven't been answered...? Praying to a jug of milk will do that for you.

I have said there have been times when I felt that may faith was all I really had. This was one of those times.

I'm just asking, but how do you handle the fact that when you ask god for something that you could possibly use to praise him and benefit yourself, but he does not deliver, why do you continue to believe in him?

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was also known as the morning star how do you know that this god is not the real god?

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“We live in an age disturbed, confused, bewildered, afraid of its own forces, in search not merely of its road but even of its direction

My question is what leads you to believe that this fellow was real? But every other one is a myth

My concern is that Jesus Christ is real. Not with whether or not everything else is a myth or not but if they are the truth. There is a difference. And if anyone truly wants to know if Jesus is real and if He spoke the truth, then listen to Him with a open heart and learn from Him.

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I'm just asking, but how do you handle the fact that when you ask god for something that you could possibly use to praise him and benefit yourself, but he does not deliver, why do you continue to believe in him?

Because if I had gotten everything I wanted or thought that I needed. I would have already been dead. He already knows these things and he can help you to understand that. He can and will show you that He is Almighty.

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Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli was also known as the morning star how do you know that this god is not the real god?

There is only one GOD. There aren't any others. Man has created many gods for themselves but there is only One GOD and there will always only be One GOD.

My concern is that Jesus Christ is real. Not with whether or not everything else is a myth or not but if they are the truth. There is a difference. And if anyone truly wants to know if Jesus is real and if He spoke the truth, then listen to Him with a open heart and learn from Him.

First of all, no, you are not concerned with the truth. And I know this because if you were, then you would be approaching this discussion with a willingness to scrutinize your own beliefs. You see, looking for the truth is hard; especially when it's not what we want to find.

Jesus Christ is a character in a book, ILY. And in that sense, he deserves to be looked at with a careful eye. And when you do that, you have to examine the claims of that book in the same way that you examine the claims of any other character in any other book, else you are not looking for truth. You're only looking to confirm what you already think.

When you ask yourself whether or not the claims of the biblical character of Jesus Christ are more likely true or not true, the answer is obviously that they are more than likely not true just for the sheer fact that walking on water, turning water into wine, and claiming to be the son of an invisible sky man typically sets off that buzzer in your mind that says 'this is bullshit, this is bullshit'.

The same should be said of Allah, Vishnu, Thor and all the rest, correct? If someone were to say to you that Muhammad is real, and that all you have to do is listen to him with an open heart to see that, what would you say to them? Would that be enough for you? Can you not see that this entire premise is just a trick for your mind?

Because if I had gotten everything I wanted or thought that I needed. I would have already been dead. He already knows these things and he can help you to understand that. He can and will show you that He is Almighty.

So can the milk jug. You just haven't asked the milk jug with all of your heart. The milk jug will not give you everything you want, because it knows that if you had everything you wanted, you'd be dead. It's a smart milk jug. All you have to do is drink from the milk jug and it will show you that it is almighty.

Now, read both our statements, and see if you can find a way to prove that yours is any less ridiculous than mine.

What measurable difference can you show me that would make me thing that prayer to a milk jug was less effective IN ANY WAY than prayer to your God?

How much do you know about the history of the bible, ILY? Do you think it dropped out of the sky the day after Jesus died?

Do you know that we have no idea who wrote the gospel stories? Do you know that Jesus didn't write a single word of the bible? Do you know that there are many small, and some large differences between the Jesus depicted in each gospel?

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Whenever events that are purported to occur in our best interest are as numerous as the events that will just as soon kill us, then intent is hard, if not impossible to assert. NDT

Because if I had gotten everything I wanted or thought that I needed. I would have already been dead. He already knows these things and he can help you to understand that. He can and will show you that He is Almighty.

How fortunate you are for you've got everything you wanted. Can you do us a favor, on behalf of all of us, just wish that no child is ever harmed in any part of this world. Don't tell that you dont want that!

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There is only one GOD. There aren't any others. Man has created many gods for themselves but there is only One GOD and there will always only be One GOD.

Jesus said His Father is the One true GOD. I believe Him.

Told ya, Vishnu came first, JC could as well be Vishnu's kid. Our flood myth antedates your's by several thousands of years. Open your heart to Vishnu.

First of all, no, you are not concerned with the truth. And I know this because if you were, then you would be approaching this discussion with a willingness to scrutinize your own beliefs. You see, looking for the truth is hard; especially when it's not what we want to find.

You have no idea of what you are claiming. As if you have lived my life. You haven't. Do you not think that I have ever contemplated the same questions but still am unwilling to budge on faith...? There is a reason for it.

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Jesus Christ is a character in a book, ILY. And in that sense, he deserves to be looked at with a careful eye. And when you do that, you have to examine the claims of that book in the same way that you examine the claims of any other character in any other book, else you are not looking for truth. You're only looking to confirm what you already think.

Again, what makes you think that I have never pondered the thought...? Your putting words into my mouth I will not allow. I have revealed very little about me personally. And all of you have been assuming things I have not said but rather based upon what you think. Or your experiences or of what others have said.

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When you ask yourself whether or not the claims of the biblical character of Jesus Christ are more likely true or not true, the answer is obviously that they are more than likely not true just for the sheer fact that walking on water, turning water into wine, and claiming to be the son of an invisible sky man typically sets off that buzzer in your mind that says 'this is bullshit, this is bullshit'.

I believe wholeheartedly that, Yes, He did indeed do those things. Even more that were not written about. Why do you ask...? What I have been saying all along. My faith in Him.

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The same should be said of Allah, Vishnu, Thor and all the rest, correct? If someone were to say to you that Muhammad is real, and that all you have to do is listen to him with an open heart to see that, what would you say to them? Would that be enough for you? Can you not see that this entire premise is just a trick for your mind?

Jesus was, is and will always be more than enough for me. And my faith in Him has not been in vain.

When I was a child. I had cut my wrist. I was hurt emotionally and was wanting attention. I ended up in the hospital and forced to see a psychiatrist against my will. I had t stay there for 3 days. I do not remember very much but what I do remember bothered me for years afterward. Apparently I slept most of the time but the one thing I remembered was waking up out of a trance with the psychiatrist swinging a gold pendulum repeating the phrase," You have been chosen by GOD." With this freaky look on his face while shaking his other hand. I do not know why I woke up. For years this crushed me and my belief. I was just a kid for crying out loud. Why would GOD allow this...? A child who loved Him and was emotionally torn...? Only to be victimized against my will. With someone trying to hypnotize me with GOD...?

Has this happened to you...?

has a preacher looked you straight in the eye and told you that you were no longer in the lambs book of life...? Or has a family member ever told you that you were out of GODS will...?

Have you ever tried so hard, doing everything you could just so that GOD might notice...? Or so scared and frightened to even move but you kept just getting right back and continuing on...?

You have no idea of who I am or what I have been through and even time I have been knocked down. I still continue on by faith and GOD has NEVER let me down.

So stop assuming that you know me. You have no idea of who I am or what I have done and why I continue to live my life trusting in GOD, when you have absolutely no idea whatsoever.

But u must know. Sometimes humans just need a figure to follow, and also need a figure to blame.That's where the God & Devil come to play.We created those images to relieve ourselves.

When something bad happened.This is God's test, i have to be patient.This is God's will, he know what's best for me.God will never give us more than we can handleWhen we started to be negative, This is the Devil's mind trick playing on me.Making me far away from God.When something good happenedThank you god.I lived and believed that stuff for years.

It's all just in your head.When u get through all the Bad thing that ever happened.It's because of your own power.With support of your Friends and family perhaps.

Yet, it feels much better and really nice "IF" God really take care of u all this time.

has a preacher looked you straight in the eye and told you that you were no longer in the lambs book of life...? Or has a family member ever told you that you were out of GODS will...?

Have you ever tried so hard, doing everything you could just so that GOD might notice...? Or so scared and frightened to even move but you kept just getting right back and continuing on...?

You have no idea of who I am or what I have been through and even time I have been knocked down. I still continue on by faith and GOD has NEVER let me down.

So stop assuming that you know me. You have no idea of who I am or what I have done and why I continue to live my life trusting in GOD, when you have absolutely no idea whatsoever.

Obviously, those of us who only know each other only via internet forums can never know exactly what the other person has been through.

I have encountered drama queens before. People who insisted that their life experiences were so terrible and so traumatic that they needed crutch A or crutch B or crutch C. That is, booze, drugs or god.

They also insisted I would never understand. Mysteriously, they seems to relish in that thought. That their trauma was theirs alone, and that nobody else had ever suffered like them. And that they were special for it.

I've had the occasional bad day, but never anything so traumatic that I could use it as ammo for the rest of my life. Even if I believed in god, I can't think of a moment I would have needed to call on him. Life isn't that strange to me. When crap happens, I have no trouble figuring out the source and dealing with it. Usually it is the law of averages falling on the wrong side of scale that day. Rather than a huge test from the universe.

So it's real hard for me to listen to dramatic renderings of pain and suffering and trauma, especially when it is a part of someone's standard repertoire. Something that they use every day of their life to justify their status as one fucked up dude or dudette. That doesn't mean there is nothing legitimate to a story like theirs. Or yours. But you need to learn other ways of telling it so that those of us not so desperate to be understood or felt sorry for can find a way to understand your world.

After writing the above, I decided to try to figure out what the most traumatic thing that ever happened to me was. And I can't come up with anything. I'm sixty years old and I've had bad things happen to me, but nothing that stayed traumatic. I've been rushed to the emergency room with injuries and been close to falling off of more than one mountain and in incredibly close calls in cars and inside small airplanes in terrible storms and shot at a few times, if only accidentally. And there have course been a few women in my life that wanted to ruin me. But none of that stuff bothers me now because none of it hurt for very long. If at all.

So when you're trying to stress the traumatic aspect of who you are, you might take into consideration who you are talking to. You don't know us at all either.

They also insisted I would never understand. Mysteriously, they seems to relish in that thought. That their trauma was theirs alone, and that nobody else had ever suffered like them. And that they were special for it.

In my personal experience with my friends.When they said "You would never understand..!"

Actually their problem are terribly simple.So they're quite afraid if i knew what's the real reason behind their attitude.Afraid that i would make fun of them with saying things like."What? That's it???"

has a preacher looked you straight in the eye and told you that you were no longer in the lambs book of life...? Or has a family member ever told you that you were out of GODS will...?

Have you ever tried so hard, doing everything you could just so that GOD might notice...? Or so scared and frightened to even move but you kept just getting right back and continuing on...?

You have no idea of who I am or what I have been through and even time I have been knocked down. I still continue on by faith and GOD has NEVER let me down.

So stop assuming that you know me. You have no idea of who I am or what I have done and why I continue to live my life trusting in GOD, when you have absolutely no idea whatsoever.

Obviously, those of us who only know each other only via internet forums can never know exactly what the other person has been through.

I have encountered drama queens before. People who insisted that their life experiences were so terrible and so traumatic that they needed crutch A or crutch B or crutch C. That is, booze, drugs or god.

They also insisted I would never understand. Mysteriously, they seems to relish in that thought. That their trauma was theirs alone, and that nobody else had ever suffered like them. And that they were special for it.

I've had the occasional bad day, but never anything so traumatic that I could use it as ammo for the rest of my life. Even if I believed in god, I can't think of a moment I would have needed to call on him. Life isn't that strange to me. When crap happens, I have no trouble figuring out the source and dealing with it. Usually it is the law of averages falling on the wrong side of scale that day. Rather than a huge test from the universe.

So it's real hard for me to listen to dramatic renderings of pain and suffering and trauma, especially when it is a part of someone's standard repertoire. Something that they use every day of their life to justify their status as one fucked up dude or dudette. That doesn't mean there is nothing legitimate to a story like theirs. Or yours. But you need to learn other ways of telling it so that those of us not so desperate to be understood or felt sorry for can find a way to understand your world.

After writing the above, I decided to try to figure out what the most traumatic thing that ever happened to me was. And I can't come up with anything. I'm sixty years old and I've had bad things happen to me, but nothing that stayed traumatic. I've been rushed to the emergency room with injuries and been close to falling off of more than one mountain and in incredibly close calls in cars and inside small airplanes in terrible storms and shot at a few times, if only accidentally. And there have course been a few women in my life that wanted to ruin me. But none of that stuff bothers me now because none of it hurt for very long. If at all.

So when you're trying to stress the traumatic aspect of who you are, you might take into consideration who you are talking to. You don't know us at all either.

Save it Parking Places. You are no threat to me. It doesn't matter what you say, I know the truth. GOD is real. And if you are content with your life, then fine. You have made yourself out to be god but when GOD reveals the truth to you. Don't down play the situation as if you didn't know. It is only a matter of time.

Faith is a refusal to budge - as you yourself have put it. That means that truth doesn't matter. If truth mattered, then you would be willing to follow it away from your faith if that's where it actually leads. But you won't.

You have no respect for truth. And by extension, you have no respect for honesty.

Faith is a refusal to budge - as you yourself have put it. That means that truth doesn't matter. If truth mattered, then you would be willing to follow it away from your faith if that's where it actually leads. But you won't.

You have no respect for truth. And by extension, you have no respect for honesty.

No, faith is trusting in GOD. And GOD is the truth. Faith leads to truth. And yes, truth matters "a lot".

You think faith is foolish, even GOD said you would. Instead of trusting in GOD, you put your trust in man.

People have already spent billions of dollars trying to prove or disprove the existence of GOD. In which they can't but they fail to recognize GOD for who He really is and honor Him for who He is.

If you loved Him, then you would honor His commands.

To love Him with all of your heart, soul, strength and understanding.and the other just like itTo love your neighbor as yourself.

He says His righteous ones will live by faith. He says that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him diligently and when one seeks Him with all of their heart, they will be found by Him.

And if you say otherwise, then you are calling GOD a liar.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to GOD

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing

But GOD has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise

Whether you're actually right or wrong is irrelevant to what I'm saying. What's relevant is that you're not willing to budge if it turns out that you really are wrong. Honesty is unimportant when you have faith.

ILY,you have stated already that you are unbudging in your faith. That means that you will ignore whatever evidence that is presented that goes against what you believe in, therefore you CANNOT be looking for truth because truth is suggested by evidence and NOT by warm fuzzy feelings. You seem to think your bible would tell you the truth or your imaginary god would tell you the truth... Do you really think the bible would have in there somewhere, "by the way, all this shit is fake as hell..." do you think your god is going to say to you , "by the way I dont even exist lil buddy..." No its not going to say that, which is why its up to you and us to scrutinize whats going on in REAL LIFE to determine truth. You are unwilling.

If your god is so real, ask him to stop "blessing" you since you seem to be okay, youre alive and have computers to type nonsense from, ask him to stop blessing you and give ALL your blessings to these kids

see, I'm sick of hearing about you all whining about dumb ass shit that honestly no one cares about when these kids cant get a goddamn meal to save their lives literally. And youre whining about someone waving a time piece in front of your face. Maybe if these kids werent on deaths door then I could actually give a holy hell about your or my own hurt feelings.

I'm curious, ILY, as to what you believe awaits those who do not believe as you do after they die. You have not touched on this in particular. Now, there may be areas in which more of the population believes with a fervor approaching yours, but in my experience there are many more people out there who have doubts or whose faith is very generic fluff or who do not believe at all or who follow other faiths--either Abrahamic or not, from Hindus and Buddhists to Wiccans and Pagans of various sorts just to mention a few.

Proportionally, very few people in this world adhere to Jesus and the god of the Bible with the absolute fervor you describe.

Do you believe that this saddens god? Do you believe that he lets these countless souls go on to everlasting torment simply because they follow different paths, or maybe even follow the same one with less than complete conviction?

How is it possible for an omnipotent, eternally loving god to allow this to happen? And, if he does, why would you consider him worthy of the sort of worship you give him for the simple perception that he is blessing your individual life?